Sun
by TeaRoses
Summary: Henry and Eileen, making their way through Walter's nightmare world. Slightly AU.


Disclaimer: Silent Hill 4 belongs to Konami, not to me. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.

Written for the prompt "the sound of waves" for the 30_kisses community on LiveJournal. This is slightly AU as these events don't happen in the game.

Sun

Another cold stone tunnel isn't much of a surprise to Henry. At first it's relatively spacious and he and Eileen can walk in it. He tries to keep going slowly, determined not to leave her in this place alone. Gradually the tunnel becomes smaller, until they can't even walk bent over and have to start crawling, still trying to get to the faint light at the end. Eileen whimpers occasionally; Henry thinks crawling must hurt her broken arm like hell. Mold covers the walls of the tunnel and there's a smell of rot permeating the air.

"Are we even going anywhere?" Eileen asks with a hand on Henry's ankle.

"I don't know," he replies. Sorry for discouraging her, he adds, "But it will be all right." The words are meaningless and he knows it, but she keeps going and so does he. He pictures sunlight at the end of the tunnel, open air, an escape. But he crawls out into an empty, dingy room lit by bare electric lights hanging from the ceiling. Bars run down one side of the room, like it's a prison cell. He turns to help Eileen get out of the tunnel and stand up.

"Is there a way out?" she asks.

Henry inspects the bars but there is no door set into them. He doesn't think Eileen can make it back through the tunnel again.

Then the man is there, on the other side of the bars -- the one they now know is Walter Sullivan. He is smiling an oddly peaceful smile.

"The Receiver of Wisdom and the Mother Reborn," he says. "You are here." Henry waits for him to produce a gun, and steps between him and Eileen as if he can somehow protect her. There's no way they could back into the tunnel in time. But Walter is still just smiling. After a moment he holds out an object but it isn't a weapon. It's the same sad-looking dirty doll that Henry saw him with before.

"Emily," Eileen gasps. She steps out from behind Henry. "I remember... I gave her to that man in the subway station."

"To me," says Walter. "It was one of the only presents I ever received."

Eileen nods. Despite her wounds she is still standing straight, with the chain swinging slightly in her good hand. It occurs to Henry that she is brave, probably braver than he is. He wants to ask Walter why he tried to beat Eileen to death in return for her kindness, but he doesn't.

"I want to bring mother home, and only you can do that," Walter says. He draws a knife from his coat, and the chain twitches in Eileen's hand. "Later, dearest Mother Reborn," he says. "In the appointed place." And then he disappears from their view. There is a sound like a door slamming, and chunks of plaster rain down from the back wall of the cell.

Henry walks over. Three large pieces are among the small crumbled bits of plaster, and they have pictures on them. He didn't see them before, but they're hard to detect -- a slightly darker color on the murky yellow of the wall. One has a picture of the sun, the way a child draws it, with triangular rays. Another looks like a crown, the way a child makes a paper crown. The third is a stylized picture that looks like a little girl.

In the wall itself three hollows have been revealed, set in a row. "I think the pictures are meant to fit in these spaces," Henry says.

Eileen nods. "But what for?"

Henry shrugs. "I'm not sure. But there's some writing here." He reads it out loud. "One is the treasure of the son. Two is the song of the mother. Three is the tale of the receiver." He shakes his head. "I'm not sure what it means."

"Well, he called you the receiver of wisdom and me the Mother Reborn, so maybe it's about you and me," says Eileen.

"That makes sense. Then maybe Walter is the son, since he keeps talking about his mother."

Eileen picks up the picture of the girl. "This... could be Emily. She could be his treasure."

Henry puts the plaster piece into the first hollow and it clicks neatly into place.

"The song of the Mother Reborn. Do you have a song?"

She picks up the picture of the sun, her hand trembling slightly. "You Are My Sunshine. My mother used to sing it to me when she came in to kiss me goodnight. But I don't know how he would know that, unless he was stalking me."

Henry doesn't answer, because of course it's entirely possible that he was stalking her. He just takes the piece of plaster from her and clicks it into the second space.

"That leaves this for the third," says Eileen, holding up the crown.

For a moment Henry looks puzzled, but then he says, "The Little Prince. It was my favorite when I was young, and I still keep a copy in my bedside table." He doesn't even ask how Walter or anyone else would know; he just puts the piece in its place. The room shudders, as if with an earthquake, and stone pours down from the wall. Henry pulls Eileen back. Now he can see that a jagged hole has opened up.

"I think we should go through," he says.

Eileen says, "I can't see what else to do."

So they walk through the hole into a corridor. It twists and turns, and some places are so dark they have to feel along the wall to tell where they are going. He can hear Eileen's ragged breathing behind him. They are both exhausted.

At one point she says, "I always liked that book too. The Little Prince. But for a long time I wouldn't read it, because the ending made me cry."

"He didn't really die," Henry says, as if that matters now. He can just barely see Eileen nod in the darkness, and he reaches for her hand.

"What's that sound?" she asks, her small hand pressed into his. "It sounds like waves."

The corridor grows brighter, and the sound louder, as they continue walking. Even if this light will not deliver them either, he will keep going. Finally they see a door in front of them. When they open it, there is sand in front of them. It's a beach, under a clear night sky. A battered boat sits in the water, tied to a dock. He can't see where the light is coming from, but it isn't sunlight.

"Do you think we should get in the boat?" he asks.

"I don't think it's a way out," Eileen says. But there are rocks in both directions keeping them from going anywhere else. "I don't think there is a way out."

"No," he says. "We will find a way." He goes up on the dock and clambers into the boat. Eileen follows, and he stands up to carefully help her down.

If this were a real ocean, there would be no point in trying to cross it, but it looks more like a movie set than anything else. Henry can already see a light on the far shore, and he begins to row toward it. "Do you think that's the appointed place, where we're going to die?" Eileen asks.

Henry doesn't know what it is, and he can't let go of the oars to touch her now. Instead he sings, softly and off-key, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy, when skies are gray."

There is a small tear in Eileen's unbandaged eye, but she just shakes her head and sings, "I never told you how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away."

And then there is only the sound of waves and gently splashing water, as they try to find their way home. 


End file.
